A Shikamaru Aside
by Uzuki-Kun
Summary: The feelings one obtains when your mentor, coach, mentalist, and best friend leaves this life.


**Shadow Of The Day**

**A Shikamaru Songfic**

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How? How could it have gone so horribly, horribly wrong? It was a routine mission. It was just...just a routine mission. They didn't have any warning. No way...no way to know! It wasn't fair! It wasn't! It wasn't god damned fair!

Those were the words flying through Shikamaru's mind as Chouji and Ino stood about him, each one attempting to block out the harsh and painful reality of the scene before them. Blood was already pooling on the rocks below their friends body, and as Asuma took each breath with as much force as he could painfully muster, Shikamaru's heart continued to sink further and further into his chest.

**I close both locks below the window.**

"Shika...Shikamaru..." Asuma said, his teeth bloodstained, his breathing ragged, if at all.

Shikamaru's eye's watered even more as he lowered his head to the lips of what was once a great man and mentor. Nearly as silent as the morning dew collecting on the petals of a tulip, Asuma gave Shikamaru a final request before closing his eyes and lapsing into a coma. "Take...care...of...the next...generation. Kurenai...please..."

"A...ASUMA-SENSEI!" As if his voice could turn back time.

As if his voice could awaken his fallen comrade.

**I close both blinds and turn away.**

Sitting in the hospital waiting room, Shikamaru's shoulders heaved as he attempted to regain control of his breathing. He went through the battle piecemeal. Everything was perfect. He had had that Akatsuki member in his jutsu. He...he had won! The bastard had cheated. It wasn't fair. Shogi pieces aren't immortal. Neither were human beings!

He had figured out the jutsu. He...he had won! What was the matter with him!

**Sometimes solutions aren't so simple.**

"Shikamaru?" An attendant nurse's voice. Shikamaru's head rose to confront the sad face in front of him. He could tell by her expression. Taunt, immobile...the face of someone who had seen death hundreds of times before this, and only felt the first few before throwing up her defenses and wading through a sea of agony without even a scratch.

Shikamaru had never seen true death before. He had never been covered in a comrade's blood.

He was tainted.

Asuma...was dead.

"A...Asuma-sensei..." Tears poured unchecked from the youth's face. He didn't care.

He didn't care...

**Sometimes goodbye's the only way! Oh!**

The scene was short and sweet. Tsunade gave a farewell, and everyone gave Asuma their last respects. It was bittersweet, in a way. Lighting up a cigarette, Shikamaru watched as the throng of people began to disperse, leaving lilies and roses on Asuma's burial box before departing with tears in their eyes.

**And the sun will set for you,**

**The sun will set for you!**

Finally, everyone was gone except for Ino, Chouji, and himself. Stepping forward, the three saluted the coffin, Ino barely making her hand move over her heart as her other continually dabbed at her eyes with an already sodden handkerchief.

Turning from the grim reminder of what had been, Chouji and Ino slowly filtered into the haze of morning, leaving Shikamaru standing at the gravesite. His hand clenched, and tears sprang from his eyes as a righteous fury replaced indignation and guilt.

"Asuma," the boy said under his breath. "I vow...that before this week is through...I will avenge you." Taking out a cigarette, he lit it under a gray dawn, taking a puff and pulling the smoke deep into his chest. Smiling, he gave the coffin a pat. "Hn. Looks like you never did live to get cancer, did you, old guy?"

**And the shadow of the day,**

**Will embrace the world in gray!**

**And the sun will set for you!**

Footsteps down the hospital hallway told Shikamaru who was about to enter Asuma's old room. Slowly, the door opened, and a pretty female face poked in, hand around a very distended stomach as Kurenai strode into the room with a purpose. She froze suddenly as Shikamaru stood, framed in the light of the window, his hands full of memories.

"Oh...Shikamaru-kun..." Kurenai said, her eyes taking in the scene.

Shikamaru smiled lightly, grabbing yet another reminder off of the window sill. "Oy...Kurenai-sensei. Just...cleaning up..."

**In cards and flowers on the window.**

**Your friends all plead for you to stay.**

"Oh," Kurenai said, taking another glance around the room. The white-washed room was bare, except for a few cards and flower vases still adorning the table. Picking one up, she smiled, breathing in the aroma. "Pansies and lilacs. Asuma...Asuma loved lilacs. I could tell he never could smell them, because of his smoking habit. But he loved them." A tear fell from her face as she stroked a lilac petal.

From across the room, Shikamaru sniffed. "I...I know..."

"Hm? You know what?" Kurenai asked, hand keeping her bulbous stomach in check. Shikamaru smiled through the fog, turning and walking from the room.

Before he exited, however, he had one last word for Kurenai. "No child should have to grow up without a father...and the one that does should be avenged for it. I'm going to get the son-of-a-bitch, Kurenai-sensei. I'm going to get him...and he's going to die for this." Then, he left, striding purposefully from the room, arms wrapped about his bundle.

He could almost hear Kurenai from the end of the hallway. "Arigatoo...Shikamaru-kun..."

**Sometimes beginnings aren't so simple...**

**Sometimes goodbye's the only way! Oh!**

No one saw much of Shikamaru for about two days. Some said that he was busy on missions, keeping himself occupied with work so he didn't think about what had happened. Others say that he snapped, leaving the Village Hidden in the Leaves to go questing on his own. Still others say that he locked himself in his room, not coming out for food and water or human contact, not even from his teammates.

Others would tell you that he sat on top of Hokage mountain, meditating continuously. They were the ones who knew Shikamaru the best.

Naruto was quite surprised to see an assortment of people in his bedroom. "Oy...what's everyone doing here?" He asked.

The faces gave him a long stare as Kakashi stood up, eying him with an almost bored look on his face. "Shikamaru-kun here has come up with a plan."

"Yes," Shikamaru said, standing up and walking to a white board. "But it's going to take accuracy to pull it off. We're going to need everyone here." He began pointing around the room. "Sai, Sakura-san, Kakashi-sensei, Yamato-sensei...and you, Naruto. Everyone."

"Wait," Naruto said, sitting cross-legged on the ground. "Where's Ino and Chouji?"

Shikamaru turned to the white-board, picking up a dry-erase pen. "They aren't important at this moment. They would only get in the way. Now, if everyone is in...this is what we're going to do.

**And the sun will set for you!**

**The sun will set for you-u!**

**And the shadow of the day,**

**Will embrace the world in gray.**

**And the sun will set for you.**

"Oy, pineapple-fucker! Where the hell are you taking me!" Two figures ran through the woods, towards an undisclosed location. Shikamaru had left the others to defeat this one's partner. This one, the one with the heathen god, the foul language, and the immortality jutsu.

He was all Shikamaru's.

**And the shadow of the day,**

**Will embrace the world in gray.**

**And the sun will set for you.**

"You can't kill me, you stupid fuck! I'm immortal!" The man wouldn't shut up. Shikamaru's face turned into a sneer of contempt.

"You aren't fit to have licked my sensei's boots," he said, creating a few hand-signs.

This seemed to only fuel a laughing fit from his prey. "Hahaha! What the fuck are you talking about? Like I give a shit about you or your damn sensei! Fuck off! Jashin-sama is going to rip out your fucking, heathenistic heart, you bitch!"

"I'm tired of you, and I'm tired of your mouth. Kai!" With his signal, the ground seemed to open up, an explosion carrying up and out through a hole crafted in the ground. In a jumble, the man's stitching fell apart, his limbs and torso falling into the orifice in the earth and landing on a pile of rocks. Looking up through the dust, the Akatsuki member spat up at the face of his foe.

"Fuck you! I'm immortal! Go ahead and chop me up! I'm going to fucking kill you anyways!"

"I don't think so," Shikamaru retorted. "I'm going to bury you for all eternity, here...on this land."

By now, the dust had settled enough for the Akatsuki member to get a glimpse of his surroundings. The walls and ceiling were coated with explosive tags, each one primed and ready. The Akatsuki member groaned inwardly, looking up at his tormentor. "When I get out of here, I'm going to gnaw your ankles off, you fuck!"

"You'll never get out of here. This land belongs to the Nara's...my family. Hundreds of acres. No one will ever know you're here." Taking a cigarette out of his pocket, he lit it, taking a small puff. "You'll just fade away."

"Fuck you, you heathenistic shit! Jashin-sama is going to rip your soul out of your body and fucking rape you in the ass! He'll tear out your eyes and use them to plug up the asses of whores! He'll...he'll..."

Shikamaru sighed, turning away from the hole. "I'm tired of listening to you. I don't care what kind of god you pray to."

It was an almost careless flick, as if it didn't matter. As if nothing mattered.

But as the cigarette flew through the air, going down into the hole, where the Akatsuki member continued to spout obscenities up through the chasm, Shikamaru almost felt an immense sense of relief. "You're still going to burn..."

The words hadn't even left his mouth as the lit cigarette ignited an explosive note, sending thousands of tonnes of rubble cascading into the chasm...

Creating a tomb for the once proud Hidan, Jashinist of the Akatsuki.

Smiling up into the air, Shikamaru took another cigarette out, considering his last smoke break had been interrupted.

"This is for you, Asuma. This...is for you."

A cigarette never tasted so good...

**And the shadow of the day,**

**Will embrace the world in gray.**

**And the sun will set for you.**

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A/N: Thank you for reading. I wrote this a while ago, but never uploaded it. Don't know why.


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